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San Francisco International Airport, California—Air Freight Gateway
San
Francisco International Airport (SFO) was the fourth busiest international
air cargo gateway in the United States by value of shipments. And
it was the twelfth leading gateway when compared with all U.S. freight
gateways—airports, seaports, and land ports.
In 2003, nearly 9 percent of all U.S.
international merchandise air freight by value moved through SFO.
By weight, SFO ranked sixth among air gateways, with over 3 percent
of U.S. international air merchandise tonnage moving through it.
SFO is a major hub for trade with Pacific-Rim
countries, just like the Los Angeles International Airport. But,
unlike the East Coast and Midwest airports, which show European
countries as the first stop for goods destined for Pacific-Rim
countries, SFO has direct proximity to those markets because of its
geographic location. The major origin and destination countries on
nonstop international flight segments to and from SFO are Japan,
South Korea, and Taiwan. For SFO, the top origin and destination
markets also happen to be in the same countries.1
The San Francisco area is home to Silicon
Valley. As such the major categories of exports from SFO include
high technology products like computers, semiconductors and
semiconductor equipment, electronic equipment and parts,
medical equipment, telecommunication equipment, and
pharmaceuticals.2 Similar information about imports is not
available.
In 2003, SFO handled over $47 billion worth of
international air freight. A downturn in the technology sector
affected air trade passing through SFO. Between 1999 and 2003, the
value of international freight handled at SFO declined 35 percent;
exports fell by 36 percent and imports fell by 34 percent. Among
the top 25 combined air, land, and maritime gateways, SFO had the
worst decline in the value of its trade, primarily because of the
downturn in the technology sector. During the same period the
tonnage of freight moving through SFO declined by 12 percent.
Several major domestic and international air
carriers operate through SFO. United Airlines is the largest
carrier of international merchandise exports as well as imports
through SFO. The top three air carriers (United Air Lines, Nippon
Cargo Airlines, and Korean Air Lines) together, accounted for 45
percent of the imports and 39 percent of the exports in 2003. San
Francisco airport has recently added new cargo facilities, which
will play an important role if the technology sector recovers and
the merchandise trade through SFO rebounds.
1 Based on Form 41 International Market Data from Office of Airline Information, Bureau of Transportation Statistics.
2 Bay Area Economic Forum, Report on International Trade and the Bay Area Economy, January 2003.
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